Very Real
by MrsB108
Summary: Grant captures Skye and asks her something he has always wanted to know. Skyeward


She was strapped upright to a large metal sheet, arms and legs held in place with tight magnetic clamps. He watched her through the video monitor in the adjacent room as she writhed and strained against her bindings for the good part of an hour before her body started to tire from her pointless struggle.

She was so beautiful, more beautiful than he had remembered and he was overcome with the urge to run into the next room and release her.

Her long dark hair was splayed around her like a dark veil and she wore a fitted black outfit with custom-made arm bands wrapped securely around her forearms.

Ward looked around the viewing room and realized he was alone. All his fellow Hydra companions were off doing their assigned work and he was alone, watching her, watching Skye.

He stood and composed himself with a quick outward breath before clicking the button that stopped the videorecording of the lab and then he entered it.

As the door groaned slightly when he entered, he saw her head turn and look towards him with a start.

When their eyes met, he saw a brief flicker of recognition and something else (perhaps relief, he wondered) before her face turned into a snarl of disgust; the one he had sadly become accustomed to upon seeing her.

"Ward," she practically growled at him. "I should have known. "

He smiled upon hearing her voice, not only to put on a good façade of confidence but also because he missed hearing it so much.

"Hello Skye. It's good to see you," he said calmly and honestly, taking her in as he approached her slowly.

She thrust herself against her bonds in a violent burst as she sneered at him. "Yeah, great to see you too loser. How about letting me out of this contraption so I can show you just how much?"

Ward forced a sarcastically sympathetic look on his face and said with feigned regret, "Oh Skye, I wish I could but I heard you went and got yourself some impressive powers since we last hung out. So I think we'll keep you tied up for now….if that's okay."

Skye ignored him. "Where is Lincoln?"

Ward felt a sharp pang in his chest. "He's fine. He's in another room."

Skye studied his face. "Prove it. I want to see him."

"I'm sorry but you're gonna just have to take my word for it."

Skye grimaced. "I don't believe you."

Ward's faux smile faded and he stepped closer to her, putting only a few feet between them. He could just faintly smell the whispers of her jasmine shampoo.

"I told you I would never lie to you again and I have kept my word. Lincoln's fine, I promise."

She thought about it for a moment and wondered if she was being naïve that she found herself, her instincts, to actually believe him.

"Fine, "she said coldly. "Why are we here? Why are you back with Hydra?"

Ward looked away from her for the moment, his eyes scanning for the video camera in the upper left corner as if to confirm they were no longer recording.

He turned back to her. "You're here because Hydra is interested in your powers. You, Lincoln, and all the others like you are very special. And unlike SHIELD, we embrace that power and just want to share in its greatness."

She said nothing for a moment. "But why are YOU here, Ward?"

Ward swallowed hard and paused. "I'm their leader."

Skye's face broke into a wide smile and she laughed loudly. "That's priceless! Ha, I should've known. Just when I think you can't get any MORE evil….." She trailed off, chuckling to herself and shaking her head.

Ward stepped even closer to her, now only a foot away, anger starting to well within him. "I'm not evil Skye. There was an opportunity and I took it. It's as simple as that."

Her smile faded. "So what? So you can cut me and my friends open and steal our powers? So you can get revenge for Agent 33?"

He wanted to make her understand but he knew the right words were never an option with her anymore.

He simply stated, "I would never hurt you."

Skye thrust against her bindings again and glared at him accusingly. "Um _hello_? Then why am I strapped up like your lab rat?"

"I didn't even know they had taken you in until about an hour ago. You were never part of the assigned mission. You were just a bonus."

"Well that makes me feel oh, so much better, great," she said flatly.

He stared at her hard and found her staring back for a moment, without sarcasm, without disgust, and he reveled in it.

"I wish you weren't like this," she said, almost to herself it seemed.

It was an honest statement and it cut him worse than she could have known. He swallowed.

"I'll let you go on one condition."

Skye's eyes widened in surprise before squinting into suspicion.

"Not without Lincoln," she said, to which he had expected no less.

"No, just you, but at least it will give you a chance to try and rescue him."

Skye pondered this and she knew this was her best chance to help Lincoln since no one knew where they even were to attempt to save them.

"What's the condition?" she asked as her mind thought of so many terrible things he could say.

Ward closed the gap between them so that he was very close to her now, so that she could plainly see the honestly in his eyes as he spoke to her.

"Tell me if…..back then, before…all this, did you ever feel anything real for me?"

Skye felt sick and angry at the question. "Oh you want to know if I felt anything for the guy who trained me, who taught me to be strong? The guy who I laughed with and teased constantly? The guy who I spent every single day with and would have given my life for? Did I feel anything for one of the only people that I have ever known who made me want to be more? Did I feel anything for him? Yeah Ward, I did feel something for him. I felt a lot for him. And then it was all thrown away when I found out he wasn't even real."

Ward closed his eyes for a moment and tilted his head forward so that their foreheads practically touched.

"Part of him, is very real Skye."

And then he turned and walked away, stopping only at the door as he opened it, facing her one more time. "Thank you for being honest with me. You'll be released within the hour. Good luck with your rescue mission. I look forward to seeing you again soon."

And with that he left, leaving Skye staring after him.

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